Latest news with #Australian-Chinese
Canberra Times
13 hours ago
- Business
- Canberra Times
Footballers and movie stars: PM's Shanghai tourism push
"Not only is Australia's beef, barley, red wine and lobster the best in the world - we're the best place in the world to come for a holiday," Mr Albanese said. "Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost to Australian businesses." The ad will feature Chinese cinema heartthrob Yu Shi - whose acting credits include appearances in the wildly popular fantasy trilogy Creation of the Gods - and Ruby the Roo, an animated kangaroo voiced by Australian actor Rose Byrne. The joint Australian-Chinese billing underscores Mr Albanese's mission to boost cultural and interpersonal links, as well as economic ones.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Albo eyes tourism in six-day China trip
Anthony Albanese will hero Australia's tourism links with China during his six-day trip to Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, with the Prime Minister stressing the importance of the $312bn trading relationship. China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with the two-way goods and services trade larger than Australia's next three partners – Japan, South Korea and the United States – combined. In what will be Mr Albanese's second trip to China since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Albanese will engage in a spot of football diplomacy and hold a media event on Sunday with the Shanghai Port Football Club, which is led by ex-Socceroos defender Kevin Muscat. He will also visit the Shanghai headquarters of – the world's largest online travel sit and the parent company behind Skyscanner, Qunar and MakeMyTrip. In the 12 months to March 2025, 860,000 trips from mainland China to Australia were completed, representing a total spend valued at $9.2bn and about a quarter of total short-term international visitor spend in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will depart for China on Saturday. NewsWire/ Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Australia is China's largest market by spend and second in inbound tourist number behind New Zealand. Chinese tourists were a top five visitor market for every state and territory bar the NT in 2024, and the top international visitor market in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. While figures have yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, Australia was relisted as an approved destination for Chinese group tours in September 2023, with more than 4500 trips organised by travel agents completed since. Australia to China tourism levels have also surged by 73.6 per cent year-on-year to February 2025, with Aussie tourists eligible for visa-free travel for trips under 30 days. 'Australia's economic relationship with China is important, but so are the community links that underpin it and help build on it,' Mr Albanese said ahead of the visit. 'Whether that's our vibrant Australian-Chinese community, Australian footballers in Shanghai or Chinese tourists in Sydney.' Tourism will also likely be a key issue during Mr Albanese's visit to Chengdu in the country's southwest, which is the birthplace of Xing Qiu and Yi Lan – the two giant pandas at Adelaide Zoo. Giant Pandas Xing Qiu and Yi Lan at Adelaide Zoo. ZoosSA Credit: Supplied They've called Adelaide Zoo their home since December 2024. ZoosSA Credit: Supplied Trade talk will also be a key feature of talks, with the Business Council of Australia leading a delegation of leaders from the resources, banking and university sector for the Australia-China CEO Roundtable in Beijing. On Friday, Mr Albanese again summarised Australia's relationship with the superpower as 'agreeing and co-operating where we can, disagreeing where we must, but engaging in our national interest'. He said discussions will detail 'the full range of issues', with Australia also likely to speak about the detention of Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun and live fire drills undertaken by the Chinese navy in the Tasman Sea. 'Because engaging in our national interest is important for our security, to be able to raise issues in a one-on-one situation with the Chinese leadership,' he said. 'But of course, it's important for our economic relationship as well. The relationship with China means jobs in Australia. It's as simple as that.'
The Age
20-06-2025
- The Age
This old-school regional Chinese restaurant is a delicious time-warp to the 1970s
Shandong chicken is a highlight, with vinegar-sharp skin and juicy-enough flesh under a foliage of coriander. Mapo tofu eats more like a Country Women's casserole than anything from Sichuan, but it's exactly what you want on a cold Bowral night. The fried ice-cream is as good as it gets. Before Teresa and Michael took the keys, the dining room was shuttered for two months. Many locals were worried it wouldn't reopen – a place of countless first dates, final birthdays and celebrations gone forever. Like the wonderful Chan's Canton Village in Casula, which did permanently close last year, it's the kind of place that invites calls of 'It should be heritage-listed'. Maybe, but a listing can also bring about increased maintenance costs, and these Australian-Chinese institutions should function as restaurants, not museums. The best way to keep these regional institutions alive? Stop in for a Crown Lager and ham roll when next in town. Good Food Guide.
Sydney Morning Herald
20-06-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
This old-school regional Chinese restaurant is a delicious time-warp to the 1970s
Shandong chicken is a highlight, with vinegar-sharp skin and juicy-enough flesh under a foliage of coriander. Mapo tofu eats more like a Country Women's casserole than anything from Sichuan, but it's exactly what you want on a cold Bowral night. The fried ice-cream is as good as it gets. Before Teresa and Michael took the keys, the dining room was shuttered for two months. Many locals were worried it wouldn't reopen – a place of countless first dates, final birthdays and celebrations gone forever. Like the wonderful Chan's Canton Village in Casula, which did permanently close last year, it's the kind of place that invites calls of 'It should be heritage-listed'. Maybe, but a listing can also bring about increased maintenance costs, and these Australian-Chinese institutions should function as restaurants, not museums. The best way to keep these regional institutions alive? Stop in for a Crown Lager and ham roll when next in town. Good Food Guide.
The Age
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Age
Tough day at the office? Take out your frustrations at this ‘smashing' city lunch spot
Chinese restaurant Pounding Rice Bowl provides the mortar, pestle, rice and pork and asks diners to smash away. Chinese$$$$ You've ordered food, the kitchen has prepared it, and it's arrived at your table looking lovely. There's only one thing to do: wreck it. Pick up the provided pestle and pound your meal into a mash. That's the concept at Pounding Rice Bowl, a new city restaurant that explains its key activity in its name. Smashing a bowl of rice, minced pork, and soft braised eggplant is a great idea. The broken rice absorbs the juice from the pork, the eggplant becomes almost creamy and the amalgam makes for comforting chopsticked mouthfuls. Macerated screw peppers, a type of twisty green chilli, are served alongside. Other rice bowl toppings include braised pork belly and meatballs, but no matter the garnish, the rice is the star. Premium wuchang rice is imported from Heilongjiang province in north-east China: medium grain and slightly sticky, it's a perfect carrier for bold, savoury flavours. China's south-central province of Hunan is the main inspiration behind these dishes but don't go there and expect to be given a pounding stick whenever you eat out. There is a Hunanese dish of preserved century egg, chilli and eggplant that it's traditional to bash – either in the kitchen, or at the dining table – but Pounding Rice Bowl owner Ben Wen expanded the concept for his Melbourne restaurant, building a whole brand around the idea of self-smashed food. Originally from the famous beer town of Qingdao (home to Tsingtao) in eastern China, Wen is an ever-creative entrepreneur who's opened 70 venues since 2008, including pizza parlours, dumpling houses, barbecue chicken joints and a Peking duck restaurant. His fast-casual smarts and an expansive vision for modern Australian-Chinese food combine in this restaurant, which he plans to expand to Asian hubs Box Hill and Glen Waverley. 'The scallion oil noodles are one of the best sub-$10 lunches in town.' Open from lunch to late (and soon for breakfast), Pounding Rice Bowl is just out of the Chinatown fray. There's cosy seating downstairs near the kitchen, while the first floor is spacious, decorated with custom illustrative artwork by an employee with a background designing Chinese film paraphernalia. Ordering is via QR code, but there's no problem engaging with a waiter if you prefer. Limitless pickles and sweet plum juice are available at help-yourself stations, just one more sign of the hospitality here. The menu is broad and savvy, reflecting a kitchen that employs chefs from all over China, and allows them to showcase their specialties. A range of classic Aussie-Chinese dishes, such as sweet-and-sour pork and honey chicken, keeps nervous guests on-side. The more adventurous – or simply acculturated – go hard on offal and odd-bits such as fried duck head and spicy pork ears. I love the 'fried chicken bone', a whole carcass that is marinated, braised, fried and served with a zingy Sichuan spice salt featuring 21 ingredients. Gloves are provided so you can eat with gusto: crack some bones, nibble their edges, get messy and give yourself extra points for eating the last (delicious) scraps from a product that often hits the bin. You'll also want to try the springy, fresh house-made noodles. To make them, Wen uses the '00' flour he fell in love with during his pizza shop days. He's also a fan of Melbourne water, saying it's not even necessary to add salt to make a wonderful dough. The scallion oil noodles here are one of the best sub-$10 lunches in town, using three different types of onion to create a piquant but sweet dressing for the long noodles. Meanwhile, the dumplings are better than decent. Pork parcels everywhere often include cabbage; these ones smuggle in water chestnut for a more sophisticated crunch, just one more way Pounding Rice Bowl shows a level of detail and care at a keen price point. Smashing may be the activity; smash hit is the result.
